


Thrilled With Our Match

by Shamione



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adult Hermione Granger, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Forced Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:36:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29827824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shamione/pseuds/Shamione
Summary: Hermione was livid. Kingsley had the balls to send an interdepartmental memo announcing a bloodymarriage law?! Oh, he was going to get a piece of her mind!
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47
Collections: Happy Birthday Ana and Renee!





	Thrilled With Our Match

**Author's Note:**

  * For [megamegaturtle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/megamegaturtle/gifts).



> Happy birthday to megamegaturtle! I hope you enjoy this little snippet of a marriage law fic. :) You are lovely and I wish you a very happy birthday.

"Kingsley Shaklebolt!"

The only sound louder than Hermione Jean Granger's voice was the raucous clatter of the Kingsley Shaklebolt, Minister for Magic's door blasting against his wall as the angry witch bounded through it. Drywall groaned as the doorknob slapped against it, pressing a firm indent of the lock.

Hermione saw red as she stomped against the stone floor, flailing the parchment in her hand wildly. "What the bloody hell is _this_?"

The Minister's eyes were already wider than usual. "Ms. Grang -"

"Do not Ms. Granger me, Shaklebolt!" Hermione screeched. "Not today! Not when I get a bloody _interdepartmental memo_ that a bloody _marriage law_ has been enacted!"

"Hermione, can we talk about this -"

"Right now!" She bristled, slamming the parchment and her palm onto his desk. He flinched, and the movement made Hermione smirk heatedly. "We will talk about this right now!"

"We must -"

"Must _what_? _Force_ people into marriages that they do not wish to be in?" Her voice was littered with disdain. "Force copulation? _Force_ women to get pregnant?! Who gave you the right?! You _cannot_ force us to do this!"

"Us?" He asked with a raised brow, his fine features finally falling into that of the refined Minister she knew all too well. "Who exactly is 'us,' Ms. Granger?"

Hermione snarled. "Every single woman in Wizarding Britain, in total!"

Voice now calm, he asked, "You speak for all women, then?"

"Yes!" Hermione barked. "Because someone has to!"

Kingsley sat back in his chair, fingers lacing and resting on his stomach. "And you've conferred with all women in Britain, and you're not just sampling yourself because you're unhappy with your match?"

"My _match_?" Hermione scoffed. Snarling, she added, "My _match_ , while absolutely absurd, ridiculous, and asinine, has nothing to do with this! This is about personal freedom!"

A familiar, irritating laugh echoed in the silence of her statement, and Hermione felt the gooseflesh ripple down her spine. Her breath caught for a moment, rage ebbing only slightly until it crashed back over her in a wave of indignation and embarrassment. She trashed her head toward the sound only to be met with a smirk she knew all too well and a pair of eyes she couldn't stop dreaming about.

His face was somewhat placid beyond the smirk. He sat relaxed with one ankle thrown over the opposite knee, slightly wrinkling the legs of his black trousers. Hermione bristled further when she took him in, black suit making his porcelain skin shine under the Minister's office lighting. He'd been sitting there the entire time, and she hadn't noticed him when she'd barged in.

"Good morning, fiance," Draco Malfoy drawled from his seat before the Minister's desk.

Hermione scoffed in response, but the heat drained from her face. Rolling her eyes because some flutter in her gut prevented any further response, she turned back to Kingsley, who wore a much too satisfied smile.

"You cannot force this upon us!" She said, trying to muster back her indignation. "We have the _right_ to choose with whom we fall in love and start a family!"

"You absolutely have the right to choose, Ms. Granger," Kingsley said coolly. "Did you manage to read the _entire_ memo this time, or did you -"

"Of course I did!" Hermione scoffed anew, but the heat coloring her face this time was from pure embarrassment. "Of course, I read the entire thing."

"Then you noted the five-year clause?"

"Of… of course I did," Hermione said, trying not to deflate, knowing she'd gotten to her match's name and nothing beyond.

It was Malfoy who responded. "So, then, you are aware that if you and I do happen to fall in love with other people, which mind you, I have absolutely as few prospects as you at the moment, then we can dissolve the Ministry's proposed marriage contract in favor of a new one with our chosen partner?"

"Of course," Hermione stiffened, sneering slightly as she trashed her head back toward Malfoy. "It's still wrong!"

"I'm not sure about you, Granger - well, actually," Malfoy mused, cocking his head to the side and throwing his hand toward his heart to feign hurt, "much to the degradation of my ego at this moment, I think I can tell your feelings - but I am actually quite thrilled with our match."

"You're - you're what?"

"Thrilled," he said without hesitation, a mirth dancing in his eyes that matched the now snarky smirk. "With our match."

Hermione was stunned silent, her mouth gaping and eyes widening as her heartbeat roared to life. Heat further colored her cheeks as she stared into Malfoy's eyes, noting the way his face softened as he winked at her.

"If you don't mind, Ms. Granger," Kingsley said, and she could hear the snark in his voice. "Mr. Malfoy and I need to continue reviewing the case files against Walden Macnair before his trial tomorrow. We can schedule a meeting to talk through your concerns at a later date."

Hermione nodded a bit dumbly, still looking into the steely grey eyes that assessed her. Turning back to Kingsley, she snorted. "Expect my meeting memo within the hour."

She turned, trying her hardest not to glance back at Malfoy. Sure, they'd grown into a sort of friendship over the past two years, but the thrumming of her heart behind her ears was more overpower than it was on most days when he was near.

"Granger," Malfoy drawled, and his voice made her shiver and freeze in place. Turning, she met his gaze over his shoulder, and her breath caught slightly. "Meet me in the atrium for a coffee this afternoon?"

Hermione swallowed and nodded only once before she swept from the room, closing the door and leaning against it with wide eyes. When Kingsley's assistant smirked at her, pulling forward the warning she'd uttered before Hermione had barged into the Minister's office, she scoffed, rolled her eyes, and stomped down back to her office red-faced and heart pounding.

Draco Malfoy was to be her husband - and he _wanted_ to be.


End file.
